I made it over the the Ada County DMV to get the first of our vehicles registered here in Idaho. I had always heard that Arizona was one of the most expensive places to have a car registered and insured so I was happy to go down and get our 4runner registered in Idaho. I took all the paperwork and more that I thought I might need to get the all taken care of. I had to go down to a facility because I had to have the car visually inspected by someone to make sure that the car really was the car.
I didn’t make an appointment because I was told you didn’t need one for this process. So, I showed up and the parking lot was a bit full. But they had a lot of people working there so it only took a few minutes before I was seeing someone. The lady was pleasant and she worked her way through all the title transfer stuff. Then we wandered out to the car and she checked the VIN number to make sure it matched.
Then we went back in and she told me the total cost for the car. It was over $200 for two years. The 4runner is 18 years old. Was a bit surprised. I asked how that all broke down and she said that about $20 of that was the transfer of the title and having her inspect the car ($15 and $5 roughly). I opted for the state park pass which if you do it with your registration is $10 a year (so $20 for two) on that vehicle (it is done per vehicle not a card it is a sticker for the car that goes on the outside of the windshield not the inside) And there was a $6 credit card fee, which I asked about since the sign said that over $80 there was no fee, but that was an additional fee if it was under $80, there is always a credit card fee. And of course I didn’t plan on $200+ for two years of registration so I didn’t have that cash on me.
I was taken aback honestly. I checked my AZ registration and it was $50 with taxes and fees last November for 2 years. So, $25 a year. Idaho is nearly double that and it will never get any cheaper as the car gets older. In fact that is the cost of all the cars I own that I will register in Idaho, because they are all older than 7 years. Idaho does a 1-2, 3-6, 7 and then 8+ years old for their teared cost, and I will say that the brand new car cost is cheaper than Arizona, but since I am someone that keeps cars a long time that is of little comfort to me.
As for my motorcycle it isn’t quite as much but it is still $80 for two years (without the park pass, otherwise it would be $100), and that is over double what I was paying in AZ for two years. I was paying $62 for 5 years in AZ. But I ride all the time so that is a bitter pill I will have to swallow.
This has created a few points I, and my wife, will need to consider:
- What to do about the Ford? We want to get rid of that car. We want to replace it with something else. But what to do? Do we register it and drive it a bit longer. Do we sell it and get a new car. The other thing I found out is that Idaho charges … wait for it … an additional electric car fee of $150 PER YEAR for an electric car. That is on top of the standard registration fees. So, a new electric car has a 2 year registration cost of $550 (and that is without the park pass). Now that is better than what I was paying when we bought our Ford in AZ 11 years ago. It was crazy expensive, but the thing is that the Ford in January was only around $80 for 1 year, and in Idaho an electric car will never be less than $225 for a year. So what to do there? Is the savings in gas really going to pay for itself compared to fee that the state is charging for the electric vehicle registration? I understand why they are charging it and I will write more on that someday, but still…
- What to do about the Honda motorcycle? It currently doesn’t run so I wasn’t planning on registering it yet anyways, but now I am not sure I want to ever register it. It will be $80 for 2 years, and I won’t ride it that much if at all in a year. So, that will certainly be put on a back burner.
- Finally my Volkswagen. I now have no idea what to do. It is currently in Arizona at my parent’s house. I love to drive it. I miss driving it. I also know that in Idaho there will be nicer weather to drive it in, but there will also be weather/months where I won’t take it out at all to keep it safe (from the ice/snow and salt on the roads). But here is the thing, the last time I registered it in Arizona I was able to do 5 years for $62 (with taxes and fees). That’s it. If I register it here in Idaho it will be, yep you’re right, if you said $200 for two years. That means 5 years is $500. That is over 8 times more expensive. And I am not sure it is worth it. There is classic vehicle registration here in Idaho that is cheaper, but then you can only drive the car to and from car shows (within a certain distance) and to and from auto mechanics (within a certain distance) and the lady implied that I have to get an odometer check every year to confirm I am not driving it more than that. So, this is going to be a hard thing for me to decide. I was looking forward to having my car up here with me again, but I am not sure it is worth the time and money to get it here and then drive it here. I am not a car show guy. I drive my car because I like driving my car. I was just thinking today would have been a nice morning to drive it to take my daughter to school if it would have been here.
So, that is where I am at. I am glad I didn’t go out and buy a new electric car last week without this electric vehicle registration knowledge (thank you God). So the new car discussion with my wife will have to change and the VW question will have to take some time and hard thinking to decide what to do. This part makes me sad and mad. I mean I won’t drive that car very often, but I will drive it for pleasure at times. It won’t be on the road nearly as much as any other car out there for the most part. I mean I drove my motorcycle 20 times farther last year than I did my bug.
NOTE – I mentioned insurance as well, and I haven’t found out what my new insurance will be in Idaho for the cars. When I called my insurance company they told me to wait until I had the vehicles registered in Idaho before I transferred the insurance. They wouldn’t even tell me what the new cost would be. So, maybe the cost of insurance will go down a bunch and that will offset the increase in registration fees, but I am not counting on that since insurance rates just keep going up. So once that is done I will provide an update.
NOTE 2 – there is a cheaper Plug-in hybrid registration fee. That only makes a new car registration $400 for two years because the fee is only half of that of the fully electric vehicle fee.